Newsletter for January 2004:
One Small Step At A Time
Contents:
- This Months Thought
- One Small Step At A Time
- Quotes of the Month
- Strictly Business: Ya Gotta Have a Plan!
- Humor: Medical Chart Absurdities
This Months Thought
Take small steps, but take them every single day. Take the smallest, safest, easiest step you can, but keep moving in the direction you want to go. If you like the results, simply do it again tomorrow, and the day after that, and again the day after that. To achieve great things, keep walking, one step at a time, in the direction of your goal.
One Small Step At A Time
One of the most common challenges clients bring to coaching is the question of how to achieve their most important goals. They have important personal or business goals but they are not achieving them, and in fact, they often tell me they are not even getting started. How to help them?
There are many possible reasons for this, of course, but the reasons "why" are rarely important. Who cares "why" we don't make progress? The key is to find a SOLUTION and start moving forward. Here are three common solutions:
1. Clarify the REAL desire.
Clients often assume that a coach will be a huge fan of "goal setting" and are surprised to learn that I'm actually rather suspicious of most goal-setting programs. Now, obviously having clear goals is a good thing but most people spend far too much time setting false goals.
We've all done it. It's New Year's, and we "have to" create some targets for the coming year. Or, the boss sends us to a "motivational seminar" and we are told to come back with a set of written goals, so we do what we're told. Or, to pick on some other common themes, we know we "should" lose weight, quit smoking or spend less, so we set that as a "goal". No wonder we fail!
Those are NOT true goals! Those are merely exercises to sooth our boss, our spouse or our conscience!
The solution is obvious: Define what you REALLY want and set THAT as your goal. Most people are actually pretty good at achieving goals IF the goal is realistic, IF they have a clear plan, and IF they really, really want it.
2. Create a SYSTEM for achievement.
Weight Watchers(tm), Alcoholic Anonymous and other support groups work because they create an environment where we are supported and encouraged to succeed, every step of the way.
Too many people set goals and try to achieve them in isolation. Human beings are social creatures and we do our best when our friends are cheering us on, offering support, giving advice and making it easy for us to succeed.
Surround yourself with people, posters, music, tools and models that make it easier to succeed than to fail! Arrange your life and social situations so that every thing around you (your "Eco- system") pulls your forward! There are coaching models on how to create an environment that pulls you forward instead of feeling as if you must constantly find ways to push yourself forward
3. Take SMALL steps.
Too often we try to take giant leaps, when we are far more likely to get to the top of the mountain in a series of small, incremental steps.
Giant leaps are fun and dramatic, but they can also be up-setting. They change our world and confuse people. That's one reason many people, after losing weight in a hurry, gain it back just as quickly. They've changed "who they are", including their body image, their ward-robe, diet and lifestyle, and the brain naturally misses the old, familiar patterns.
The wisdom of experience tells us to slow down and take smaller steps.
Today, take one small step in the direction you want to go. Save a dollar, if saving money is one of your goals. Skip desert if losing weight is a goal. Compliment your spouse if you want a closer, more loving relationship.
Take small steps, but take them every single day. Take the smallest, safest, easiest step you can, but keep moving in the direction you want to go. If you like the results simply do it again tomorrow, and the day after that, and again the day after that. To achieve great things, keep walking, one step at a time, in the direction of your goal.
Quotes of the Month
"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult." -- Mme. Du Deffand
"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." -- Les Brown
"You don't get to choose how you're going to die, or when. You can only decide how you're going to live. Now!" -- Joan Baez
Strictly Business: Ya Gotta Have a Plan!
I recently heard about a remarkable woman who has built, and nearly lost, a great business. She launched it in the mid-nineties with little more than a dream and a few dollars in her "hobby" account, and quickly built it to almost 17 million dollars a year in sales. Unfortunately, her sales have dropped off by half of what they were in earlier years.
This terrible loss has nothing to do with the "dot-com" depression or the economy. It has everything to do with the fact that she never made the shift from doing it all herself to being the leader and manager of a thriving business.
Without a plan and an organizational chart, she continues to be the driving force behind every sale, every decision, and every innovation. She works horrendous hours, sometimes even packing and shipping orders herself on the weekends! Sometimes she micro-manages; at other times she pulls back so dramatically that instead of delegating, she abdicates. No wonder her employees are frustrated and her business is falling apart!
EVERY business needs an organizational chart! EVERY business, even a child's lemonade stand, needs to know who squeezes the lemons, who handles sales, and who does the accounting. Sometimes, in a micro-business, it may all be done by the same person, but each ROLE is distinct, separate, and specialized, and this should be recognized and documented.
EVERY business must know who their best customers are. EVERY business must have a marketing plan, a budget, and an R&D team. EVERY business needs a business plan that is current and reviewed often.
Humor: Medical Chart Absurdities
Ever wonder what your doctor REALLY writes in your chart? Here are a few gems written, we must assume, by absent-minded professionals in a hurry! I have seen similar lists over the years, and whether they are true or not, I hope you enjoy them!
- Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
- 0n the second day the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.
- The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.
- Discharge status: Alive but without my permission.
- Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.
- Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.
- Healthy-appearing, decrepit 69-year old male, mentally alert but forgetful.
- She is numb from her toes down.
- While in ER, she was examined, X-rated and sent home.
- The skin was moist and dry.
- Occasional, constant infrequent headaches.
- Patient was alert and unresponsive.
- She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce.
- I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for Physical therapy.
- The patient was to have a bowel resection. However, he took a job as a stockbroker instead.
- Skin: somewhat pale but present.
- Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.
Rodger Blaker is a Life Coach who works with people to help them bridge the gap from where they are today to where they want to be! For info on resources for your success, visit: http://www.rodgerblaker.com
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